UK Watchdog Eyes Extension of Money Laundering Risk Reporting to Crypto Firms

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a U.K. regulator, is seeking to oblige more firms, including some working with cryptocurrency, to report how they manage the risks of financial crime.

• In a consultation paper published Monday, the FCA said under the expanded scope of its financial crime reporting obligation it would require crypto exchanges and wallet providers to provide detailed information annually on systems and controls put in place to tackle crimes such as money laundering.
• The regulator said that currently only 2,500 out of the roughly 23,000 firms under its oversight must provide such data, including banks, building societies and mortgage providers.
• Aside from crypto firms, the extended measure would include entities such as all companies regulated by the Financial Services and Markets Authority, payment providers, electric money institutions and multilateral and organized trading facilities.
• The FCA said the extra information the reporting would provide would enable it to be more "date led" in its supervision and widen its insight into firms that may carry money laundering risks.
• The consultation period is open for feedback from interested parties until Nov. 23, 2020.
• In June, the U.K. government said it was looking to increase oversight into cryptocurrency promotions in order to protect investors, with the new supervisory role falling to the FCA.

Also read: UK Regulator Grants License to Digital Security Exchange Archax